For those of you in the U.S., here's a friendly reminder to get out and vote today. And if, for some reason, you feel like your polling place is a little too far to make the trip, just remember that even astronauts aboard the International Space Station find a way to vote on election day — and not just by voting early, either.

Call it the ultimate absentee ballot. NASA astronauts aboard the International Space Station have the option of voting in [today's] presidential election from orbit, hundreds of miles above their nearest polling location.

Astronauts residing on the orbiting lab receive a digital version of their ballot, which is beamed up by Mission Control at the agency's Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston. Filled-out ballots find their way back down to Earth along the same path.

"They send it back to Mission Control," said NASA spokesman Jay Bolden of JSC. "It's a secure ballot that is then sent directly to the voting authorities."